Commercially available electrochemical apparatus are expensive. A quartz cell typically costs more than $1000. Cells made from poly(tetrafluoroethylene) or from an acrylic polymer may cost more than $230 each. Those used for bulk electrolysis ($800), for flow ($850) and for general electrochemistry ($20-$200) are also too expensive to be considered disposable. They must be cleaned after each experiment. Electrochemistry is a sensitive technique, and residual chemicals from prior experiments, and even from a cleaning, may contaminate a later experiment performed in the same cell. In addition, especially in academia, the high cost may result in a laboratory being able to afford only a small number of cells that are likely shared amongst several researchers who all must have access to them. This limits productivity.
In addition to their high cost, most electrochemical apparatus lack the flexibility of being useful for both solution electrochemistry and surface electrochemistry. An electrochemical cell that is generally useful for solution electrochemistry cannot easily be modified for surface electrochemistry experiments. In addition, traditional electrochemical apparatus have limited capacity to interface with optical fibers, microscopes, spectrometers, and other optical instrumentation.
An inexpensive electrochemical apparatus that can be modified easily for solution and surface electrochemistry, and that can also interface with optical instrumentation, is desirable.